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Flight takeoff behavior of Colorado potato beetle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

Gilles Boiteau
Gilles Boiteau
Affiliation:
Potato Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, PO Box 20280, 850 Lincoln Road, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada E3B 4Z7
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Abstract

The successful flight takeoff of untethered Colorado potato beetles, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), consists of a strongly sequenced set of behaviors beginning with site location and followed by expansion of the hind wings, rising of the mesothoracic legs, air lifting, and rising of the prothoracic legs, leading to a low angle flight departure. A series of ablation experiments demonstrated that the antennae, the elytra, the mesothoracic legs, and the prothoracic legs all play a significant role in determining the percentage of successful flight takeoffs, as well as the proportion of upward versus downward liftoffs. Flight takeoff of tethered L. decemlineata is positively stimulated by head winds of increasing speeds up to speeds of slightly more than 5.5 m/s. The absence of tarsal contact does not stimulate flight takeoff in L. decemlineata, but tarsal contact interrupts flight. The flight characteristics during liftoff indicate that this species is an in-phase functionally four-winged insect, probably with the hind pair of wings leading the wing beat. Among Coleoptera, the takeoff of L. decemlineata was found to belong to the Melolontha type (classification of Schneider 1975), because the elytra are active.

Résumé

L’écologie d’envol du doryphore de la pomme de terre, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera : Chrysomelidae), est composée d’une séquence de comportements qui commence avec le choix du site et est suivie de l’expansion des ailes, de l’élévation des pattes mésothoraciques, de la perte de contact avec le sol et de l’élévation des pattes prothoraciques, produisant un envol à faible angle de depart. Une série d’ablations a démontré que les antennes, les élytres, les pattes mésothoraciques et les pattes prothoraciques jouent toutes un rôle significatif dans la détermination du nombre de décolages et de la proportion des envols qui se font vers le bas et vers le haut. Le décolage des doryphores artificiellement suspendus dans l’air est stimulé par des vents d’environ 5,5 m/s. L’absence de contact des tarses avec le sol ne stimule pas le décolage chez le doryphore mais le contact tarsal interrompt le vol. Les caractéristiques du doryphore durant son envol indiquent qu’il est un insecte avec quatre ailes fonctionnnelles qui battent simultanément avec la paire d’ailes postérieures agissant probablement comme paire directrice. Les élytres sont actives indiquant que le décolage du doryphore est du type Melolontha (classification de Schneider 1975).

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 134 , Issue 2 , April 2002 , pp. 229 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 2002

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